Time

Christmas is now behind us for another year and soon it will be a new year. This Christmas was simpler than usual, even if gifts did not show it. I didn't stress as I usually do and race to beat the clock the day before Christmas with last minute shopping still needing to be done. I didn't have piles of wrapping to be do or days and nights of preparing. It just felt simpler this year and it also felt calmer. I had a wonderful Christmas. We did our usual, our own made yearly tradition, where we went to Heidi's house on Christmas eve. We had ham and odds and ends of things she made; she always makes a delicious ham. We all then open some present that are between us only, the kids knowing that Santa will bring his in the night when they are sleeping.

After, we all went over my sister's house where my brother is usually and others in the family. This year we had agreed that we would not exchange gifts between each other and we all stuck to that. I had thought it might seem a bit odd not to exchange gifts, but it was fine. We munched on foods my sister and Jack had made; talked and just enjoyed each other's company.

It was about 10pm when we got home and i made the stuffing for the turkey in the morning. Heidi and her family came for Christmas dinner that Don and i had made together. It was simple done that way and everything came out perfect. Later in the day, Tammy and Josh came over. Tammy had to work til 3 and by the time she got there, she was starved. She couldn't wait to have some of my stuffing and gravy. There was plenty.

I got Don a lap top computer for Christmas. He knows nothing about computers and my first "lesson" with him was how to turn it on and shut it down. He love it (and is now searching for his interest in sports; history; motorcycles; hunting and such) and he loved the bedspread and matching valances for his room that I got him, in the design and stamp of an elk , a trademark of his guns. I finally got his computer up and running late Christmas night. He had given me a digital picture frame and that took me many more hours to figure out how to take my pictures off my computer and put it in this frame, but I finally figured it out and they look beautiful! Its a constant slide show of my pictures. I've put about 40 pictures on it, but it holds 1000 and I look forward to filling it.

I worked the day before Christmas and the day after. And now, I've had a long weekend. I've been working on trying to get "things" organized in my life! Including my own room! There is so much I need to do and so much I want to do that I have just let go over quite a time. So, I've made up my mind to find some kind of much needed balance in my life. I've been busy.

Sunday, I started to print out the remaining pages of this blog as I have kept it in a book since the beginning. I had not printed out the pages in some time, so it took me a good amount of time to "catch up". I also ran out of ink and other things. So, on Sunday, I did what I could with what I had. I also started cutting the pages of pictures that had once been printed of different things in the past year. They were all piled in a cabinet. I filled my last picture album book also on Sunday, as I tried to get these much neglected things in order. Yesterday, I went shopping and bought all that I needed to continue to work on everything; even better would be to complete it all. I did complete printing this blog out, placing the pages into plastic and into the book. I also made the book finally it's cover. Its just about done now. I also have started to gather the pictures needed for my next memory book. My dining room table is a mess of all these things and I told my husband last night that I needed a "work shop" added on the house. He just gave me "the look". I took it as it wasn't going to happen.

And here I am. Before my "book" is complete with this blog, there are still some unfinished things I know that I need to do here. I know that I need to write my introduction for my book, that I hope will always be kept in the family and enjoyed. That, I will do in a document. But, there is a post yet to be written here. Not only one from me, but of my sister's, which she has already written and continues to wait for me. She has patience because she has waiting for months and months for me to do this. I just don't know how to start this next post; an "assignment" of sorts that we, my sister and I gave to ourselves.

This "assignment" stems from the book "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. He is also the author of "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". When the book "For One More Day" came out, my sister and I talked about, what if we had one more day with our mother, what would we do? How would we spend it? And there it began. We both had agreed to write on this and put our writings here, in this blog. This will be a closure to me here, in a way, as I shift over after to the new blog, "Home Sweet Home". Though, I won't close this blog. It means too much to me.